Website localisation is all about adapting your site for local audiences, whether that’s modifying your SEO strategy or translating your content.
It can help you expand your global reach, but exactly what is the best way to localise your website? Let’s take a closer look at the website localisation process, including a quick website localisation definition and the best practices for you and your brand.
Understanding website localisation
Website localisation is the process of adapting your website to a target market, ensuring it makes sense to a local language and culture.
There are a few key components of website localisation, including:
- using the right formatting for dates, times and names
- accurately translating your content
- modifying your site’s design and layout
- optimising your site for multilingual SEO
Localisation isn’t the same as translation. Translation adjusts your content from one language to another, whereas localisation tailors your site to a specific audience. The two often go hand in hand, but it takes an expert to ensure every iteration of your site suits your brand’s tone, message and audience.
Check out our article on SEO translation vs localisation for further advice and support.
Why is website localisation important?
Website localisation opens up your site to new markets, expanding your global reach. Customers like to use websites that are relevant to them. By localising your website, you pay attention to worldwide demographics with authentic content for all your international customers.
Every culture and locality is different. If you’re taking your brand global, you need your website to reflect that.
Best practices for website localisation
Website localisation best practices include understanding your target culture, optimising SEO and keeping your website up-to-date. Let’s take a closer look.
Conduct cultural and linguistic research
Look into the customs and values of your target market. How can you best show that you respect your audience’s cultural identity?
Conducting research will reveal the trends and preferences of your target region, helping you effectively modify your site to suit your audience.
Linguistic research can ensure you evoke the same tone as your source website, avoiding common marketing translation mistakes and accurately localising tricky language use like idioms.
Incorporate local SEO strategies
If you’re reaching out to new markets, you need to get serious about local SEO. Optimal keyword search terms will be different in different localities. For example, a phrase that brings traffic to your website in Spain may not get the same results in Venezuela – despite both countries speaking the same language.
Multilingual SEO keyword research can help you build an effective SEO strategy for your region or country.
Regular updates and maintenance
Localisation isn’t a one-time job. You need to regularly update your website’s content, structure and design to target global markets. If your source-language site undergoes updates, you need to consider how this will affect your localised versions too.
The website localisation process
Let’s take a closer look at the website localisation process, including a step-by-step guide to ensure you hit your targets.
1. Plan and strategise
First, you need to plan your website localisation. Assess your current website content and consider how an international audience will access your site – and how you want to approach the project.
You’ll also need to plan your local SEO strategy. Work with a localisation expert to properly optimise and map out keyword localisation for your market.
2. Implementation
Once you’ve put a plan in place, it’s time to implement your strategies. Your website localisation checklist should include:
- cultural adaptation
- user experience
- website content translation
- legal and financial compliance
- local SEO optimisation
You’ll need to think about how site users will switch between web versions – and how you’re using SEO to target worldwide customers.
3. Evaluation and iteration
Create a list of quality assurance criteria for your website. You can use this to evaluate your site, scanning for user experience or technical issues.
Gathering feedback from native speakers can help you manage your localisation project – and you need to monitor your site to keep everything running smoothly.
Common website localisation mistakes
Did you know that 40% of customers won’t buy in a different language? Everyone makes mistakes – but what if that mistake is costing you sales? Translating and localising your website could be the key!
Let’s take a look at some common website localisation mistakes – and how to avoid them.
Ignoring cultural nuances
A successful website localisation doesn’t ignore the nuances between different cultures, whether they use the same language or not.
Your website could be in perfect English, but how are your dates formatted? Are you using the metric system? Have you used a culturally specific word like “sneakers”?
Your website needs to be tailored to your target culture – and that involves more than just translation. Pay attention to the traditions and particularities of your audience.
Reliance on automated translation tools
Machine translation has its limits. To effectively localise your website, you need to understand the language and culture subtleties that translation tools just can’t detect.
You may need to consult a native speaker or translator to understand the nuances of your international demographic.
Even the best brands make mistakes! Check out 12 real-life translation fails.
Neglecting local SEO practices
Creating a local SEO strategy is a key part of the website localisation process. If you’re reaching out to new markets, you can’t use the same strategy for every iteration of your website.
You need a glossary of keywords that will drive traffic to your website and boost your ranking in local markets. If you fail to incorporate local SEO practices in your web content, you’re missing out on traffic (and sales) from international customers.
…………..
Website localisation should be an essential part of any content marketing or branding strategy.
At LEaF Translations, we can help your business implement effective website localisation. From marketing translations to local keyword research, we work with native speakers to create authentic localisations for brands across the world.
Get in touch for a chat about your next project!
